The Labour Party has no set time line by when it plans to eliminate Enemalta’s debts, apart from the Special Purpose Vehicle which has already been set up to pay them off.

When The Times asked for a specific date by when Labour is promising to solve Enemalta’s debt problems, the party’s chief spokesman on the economy, Karmenu Vella, yesterday pointed to his party’s plan to put aside some €110 million a year from fuel savings to service the debt.

He referred to the Special Purpose Vehicle set up by the Government at the end of last year to pay off some €316 million of its €835 million debt over a 25-year period. The rest, more than €500 million, would be paid off slowly from the company’s fuel savings.

According to Labour’s energy plans, Enemalta is due to save some €187 million a year from the conversion of power generation to gas. Of this, €77 million will be used to lower tariffs by 25 per cent for households and 35 per cent for businesses from March 2014 and March 2015 respectively.

Enemalta’s debt levels were specifically cited as one of the reasons for Malta’s downgrade by credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s last Wednesday.

Mr Vella said the credit rating agency had relegated Malta to “Serie B”, the second division in Italian football.

He said this was “very bad for business” and discredited the Nationalist Party’s claim that the country’s finances were sound.

MEP Edward Scicluna said the country’s economic growth was far from its potential, while Labour spokesman Charles Mangion added that a quarter of the current debt levels were racked up during the past legislature.

Prof. Scicluna rebutted claims by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech that the downgrade was the result of Labour’s refusal to approve the Budget.

“What has been surely downgraded is his credibility after having hidden the reality revealed by Standard and Poor’s,” he said.